I Was Shot In The Wrist When

In Many Of My Plays, There Was A Kind Of Autobiographical Character In The Form Of A Son Or Young Man. The Purpose Of It, Of Course, Was To Write About Myself. That Character Was Always The Least Fully Realized. Eighteen Years Later, You Realize, That's What He Was About.

When You Consider All The Writers Who Never Even Had A Machine. Who Would Have Given An Eyeball For A Good Typewriter. Any Typewriter. All The Ones Who Wrote On A Matchbook Covers. Paper Bags. Toilet Paper. Who Had Their Writing Destroyed By Their Jailers. Who Persisted Beyond All Odds.

My Dad's Side Of The Family ... They're A Real Bizarre Bunch, Going Back To The Original Colonies. That Side's Got A Real Tough Strain Of Alcoholism. It Goes Back Generations And Generations, So That You Can't Remember When There Was A Sober Grandfather.

This Isn't Champagne Anymore. We Went Through The Champagne A Long Time Ago. This Is Serious Stuff. The Days Of Champagne Are Long Gone.

I Don't Want To Be A Playwright, I Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star.